ALBANY, N.Y. (May 2, 2007) -- Author Elizabeth Kolbert and the Hon. Judith Kaye, Chief Judge, New York State Court of Appeals, will deliver the graduate and undergraduate commencement addresses at the University at Albany 2007 Commencement Ceremonies.

Kolbert will deliver the graduate commencement address on Saturday, May 19, from 9-11 a.m. at SEFCU Arena. Kolbert is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change (2006), a book which takes a straightforward look at global warming and how it stands to impact the global environment. Kolbert's book was the focus of the 2nd annual University at Albany Reading Project in 2007.

Kolbert has won a George Polk Award and Walter T. Brown Award for excellence in journalism, and is the former Albany Bureau Chief of The New York Times. She is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and her other books include The Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit (2004), a collection of profiles of New York political figures including Boss Tweed, Sheldon Silver, Charles Rangel, George Pataki, Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.

Kaye will deliver the keynote address at the undergraduate ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, May 20, from 10-11 a.m on the Science Library Lawn. Judge Kaye is the first woman to occupy the state judiciary's highest office, having been appointed Chief Judge by Governor Mario M. Cuomo and sworn in on March 23, 1993. She previously became the first woman to serve on New York's highest court when Governor Cuomo appointed her associate judge of the Court of Appeals on September 12, 1983. Kay has served as president of the Conference of Chief Justices, chair of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts (2002-03) and co-chair of the Commission on the American Jury of the American Bar Association (2004-05). She is the author of numerous publications--particularly articles dealing with legal process, state constitutional law, women in law, professional ethics and problem-solving courts--as well as the recipient of many awards and several honorary degrees.

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